Jackson State University Youth Occupant Protection Education Project is designed to decrease the number of teen injuries and fatalities on Mississippi highways. Funded by the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety, the JSU IADSC Occupant Protection Education Project works to educate 16 to 20 year-olds on the impact of speeding and the importance of wearing seatbelts.

What We Do

• Classroom presentations on seatbelt safety and consequences of speeding
• Crash Simulator Demonstrations (consequences of not wearing seatbelts)
• School and College Assemblies
• Information Booths (Community and School Events)
• Belt-up! Seatbelt observation challenges

Occupant Protection Facts

• Of the 22,215 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, 47% were not wearing seat belts.
• In 2018 there were 9,378 fatalities in crashes where at least one driver was speeding, which is 26 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year.
• In 2018, 30 percent of male drivers and 18 percent of female drivers in the 15- to 20-year-old age group involved in fatal crashes were speeding, the highest among the age groups presented.
• In fatal crashes in 2018 nearly half (48%) of speeding drivers of passenger vehicles were unrestrained at the time of crashes, compared to 21 percent of non-speeding passenger vehicle drivers.